RMweb Premium New Haven Neil Posted February 10 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 10 Evening. Usual Saturday Mrs NHN tasks, leaving little time for NHN tasks. Went wayyy down south to a place advertising drinks and snacks, some kind of support place for ex-forces and blue-light folk but open to all, so had a look to suss out - not very exciting but in a nice spot (Port Soderick) that in old times was a day tripping Victorian destination, tramway ride there and boat ride back sort of thing. Nothing there now bar the building the ex-force folk have. Had a nice chat and made our excuses as there was some kind of a presentation going on, met some folk we knew. re You Tube 'influencers' there's an American that just buys things seemingly to destroy them for the sole purpose of annoying folk. He has 7 million subscribers......I can guess how they vote. @PupCam be careful 'reading' plugs, modern fuels make it just about impossible to really see what is going on. 18 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozexpatriate Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 (edited) 8 hours ago, PhilJ W said: A package arrived this morning containing a pair of neoprene knee supports, which I will be trying on later. Highly recommended. My right knee started giving me trouble while walking every day. A stretchy knee brace has stopped that. EDIT: I like the stretchy neoprene ones better than the ones with Velcro to secure them. (Tried both.) Fit matters though and you have to get exactly the right size with the stretchy ones - unlike the Velcro ones which are of course adjustable. 4 hours ago, PhilJ W said: I've tried on the neoprene knee supports and its like having a new knee. Glad to hear it! Edited February 10 by Ozexpatriate Added Phil's follow-up. 16 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozexpatriate Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 7 hours ago, monkeysarefun said: Unlike many English place names like York, Newcastle and Richmond etc, there is absolutely no place in any of Australia called Washington. There's a reason for that. 9 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozexpatriate Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 6 hours ago, Tony_S said: Australian colleagues used to moan about lack, of pumpkins I've been delighted to leave the Queensland Blue far, far behind. Mum used to serve it at almost every meal - mashed with copious amounts of butter. The butter didn't help. I detested the stuff. I'm still not keen on members of the squash family. I did enjoy it roasted. 15 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozexpatriate Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 (edited) 7 hours ago, monkeysarefun said: Pubs and cafes here back in the day before we had to have salad with everything did offer a "Mixed Grill" ( @Ozexpatriate can confirm!) On a visit with my son some years ago we had a "mixed grill" breakfast at a local café. While your mileage may vary, for the most part they can be a reasonable facsimile of a Full English* - sans black pudding / blood sausage. They are, of course, not identical. Aussies left black pudding behind on the old sod. * Proper versions of which I have had, along with kippers. (I am a fan.) There are going to be little variations - buttered toast instead of fried slice. The baked beans (if offered) will be the Aussie version, as will the bacon. English**/US/Australian bacon does vary a lot. The sausage will be an Aussie snag. When in Rome ... ** I once had a pasta Carbonara dish in the UK with English bacon. It probably violated all of Flavio's / @iL Dottore rules about this dish and tasted quite wrong. Edited February 10 by Ozexpatriate 15 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozexpatriate Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 4 hours ago, jjb1970 said: I was slightly annoyed at Incheon as photography with DSLR cameras is prohibited. ... Perhaps counter intuitively there are no restrictions in Beijing Capital. Beijing doesn't have an implacable, existential threat about 25 miles away with whom they are (technically) still at war. 6 2 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozexpatriate Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 (edited) 9 hours ago, Sidecar Racer said: And an article about same . https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/city-hall/costly-sugar-beach-umbrellas-defended/article_c9b0dae6-63bf-54d3-8624-d2328b82eff2.html 9 hours ago, Hroth said: The photo at the head of the article looks more like a Noch "Beach Scene" catalogue illustration! What struck me about the article was not the umbrellas but the first line: Quote Mayor Rob Ford and Councillor Doug Ford call them part of the gravy train but the $11,565 umbrellas at Sugar Beach are being called a good investment. The date of the article is 2014. Rob Ford is quite infamous. It was a field day for late-night comics even in the US. Edited February 10 by Ozexpatriate 11 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gwiwer Posted February 10 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 10 2 hours ago, TheQ said: We see a fair few of those here in Norfolk... Where they get put on a ship and travel off to Mexico. Daffodils or the other things? 🤣 7 1 1 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerburnie Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 4 hours ago, Tony_S said: Chicken and leek pie. Savoy cabbage, pea shoots and mashed potato with gravy to accompany it. I knew some of that green stuff was almost as deadly as a Brown Snake............................................................ 16 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozexpatriate Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 (edited) 9 minutes ago, tigerburnie said: I knew some of that green stuff was almost as deadly as a Brown Snake............................................................ Just watch the first 10 seconds or so. Edited February 10 by Ozexpatriate 7 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gwiwer Posted February 10 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 10 48 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said: I’ve been delighted to leave the Queensland Blue far, far behind. Me too!!! Disgusterous objects which the Aussies seem to enjoy. Likewise those ridiculous little yellow squashes that turn up on roasts and at takeaway food stalls. Bland, tasteless (even when buttered / seasoned) and like eating a mouthful of cotton wool in my opinion. But Dr SWMBO, who has grown up eating pumpkins, enjoys them. She misses the Aussie ones; most which are sold here are for decorative use rather than eating. We do occasionally find a farm shop selling edible varieties which are then roasted. Anything left over is souped. She also grew up eating Vegemite for which I have now forgiven her. Largely because she converted to Marmite. Give me a good roast parsnip any day. You can keep your tasteless and hard-to-cut lumpkins. 16 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozexpatriate Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 3 minutes ago, Gwiwer said: Likewise those ridiculous little yellow squashes that turn up on roasts and at takeaway food stalls. Chokos* are the worst but even most Australians don't like them. * aka Chayote. There are probably Asian preparations that make Chayote palatable - or at least imbue them with the flavour of the sauce in the dish but traditional "English" approaches to vegetable cookery - like boiling them unto the moment before disintegration - is an utter culinary fail. 8 2 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Lurker Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 4 hours ago, jjb1970 said: I kind of get that as the whole Chinese identity thing is a minefield. The People's Republic of China is itself incredibly diverse , then you have their SAR regions Hong Kong and Macau, and the Republic of China (Taiwan). They're all 'Chinese' by nationality, but then there's the all the Chinese ethnic minority populations in much of Asia which are Indonesia, Malaysian, Vietnamese, Thai etc by nationality (and in many cases language, custom and culture) but still viewed as outsiders by the majority. Or Singapore which has an ethnic Chinese majority but one which probably has as much in common with people in the PRC as an Englishman with a Frenchman (many Singaporean Chinese speak English as their first language and quite a lot cannot speak Mandarin or any other Chinese language). So it's quite common to observe behaviours of that kind towards ethnic Chinese in Asia coming from people who themselves identify or would be identified as Chinese. In Singapore there's a gulf between the native Chinese and those who have immigrated from China. The Singaporeans often complain that the Chinese Chinese are corrupt, a bit shifty, uncouth, obsessed with money etc (it's funny how so many of these tropes are the same around the world regardless of the groups in question) while the Chinese Chinese often deride the Singaporean Chinese for not being able to speak Mandarin etc. It's a bit of a minefield. My direct report is from Hong Kong - she can’t stand “the Chinese” or more realistically the Party. She and her English husband took part in the umbrella marches til someone pointed out that a white man marching was not the most politic thing. 2 3 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Tony_S Posted February 10 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 10 57 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said: traditional "English" approaches to vegetable cookery - like boiling them unto the moment before disintegration - is an utter culinary fail. I am glad you said “traditional” as we don’t really do that anymore! My gran used to start cabbage the day before and chuck sodium bicarbonate in as well. The Savoy cabbage we had with our pie today was superb. 15 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeysarefun Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 1 hour ago, Ozexpatriate said: Just watch the first 10 seconds or so. Watch the whole lot! 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeysarefun Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 1 hour ago, Gwiwer said: Me too!!! Disgusterous objects which the Aussies seem to enjoy. Likewise those ridiculous little yellow squashes that turn up on roasts and at takeaway food stalls. Bland, tasteless (even when buttered / seasoned) and like eating a mouthful of cotton wool in my opinion. But Dr SWMBO, who has grown up eating pumpkins, enjoys them. She misses the Aussie ones; most which are sold here are for decorative use rather than eating. We do occasionally find a farm shop selling edible varieties which are then roasted. Anything left over is souped. She also grew up eating Vegemite for which I have now forgiven her. Largely because she converted to Marmite. Give me a good roast parsnip any day. You can keep your tasteless and hard-to-cut lumpkins. The attachment many still have for the Choko is a complete mystery to me. 7 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozexpatriate Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 4 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said: Watch the whole lot! No. Just no. 😃 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Popular Post Gwiwer Posted February 10 RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted February 10 Dr SWMBO decided she would take her morning swim at the Country Club tonight having missed the window of opportunity this morning. I drove her down because it’s a narrow twisting lane and she’s not a confident night driver. The plan was to then drive back, collect fish & chips and enjoy the evening. She reported having not much enjoyed the swim. She is often on her own, not surprisingly, when they open at 8am. Tonight she had for company what she described as “four unpleasant teenagers” (two of each flavour) who she discovered were using the spa for baby-making practice before donning minimal attire, “bombing” and generally being obnoxious in the pool. They all made unnecessary and hurtful comments about her age and size then pressed her for a “loan” of shampoo and gel in the showers. As she declined she received more of their mother-tongue. I suggested she notify the Club management. The pool being private is not continually supervised nor lifeguarded so events might otherwise escape notice. We drove up to town to find the fish & chip shop closed when it should have been open. The only other takeaway is the Chinese. Being Chinese New Year (and the only takeaway open, and it being 7pm) there was a queue into the street. At the head of the queue was a coach driver awaiting his order ….. for himself and 34 passengers!!! Once that was sorted the staff were commendably fast at getting food out. They always are. And there are only three of them. Not fish & chips and quite a wait but it was good enough And I managed a few last-light pictures while nothing else was happening 2 22 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozexpatriate Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 24 minutes ago, Tony_S said: I am glad you said “traditional” as we don’t really do that anymore! The culinary traditions my grandparents passed down to my mum were pretty dire - other than things like a Sunday roast (wonderful) or Christmas (fruit) cake. The 1960s food scene* of my youth didn't help either. * Tinned foods presented as healthy - like a salad of leaf lettuce, tinned beetroot slices and cottage cheese - all arranged in a concentric pile. 12 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coombe Barton Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 4 hours ago, Hroth said: Why everyone has to play standing is anyones guess... And with their backs to each other 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeysarefun Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 1 hour ago, Ozexpatriate said: Chokos* are the worst but even most Australians don't like them. * aka Chayote. There are probably Asian preparations that make Chayote palatable - or at least imbue them with the flavour of the sauce in the dish but traditional "English" approaches to vegetable cookery - like boiling them unto the moment before disintegration - is an utter culinary fail. They are still out there. In 1973 you could buy almost 4 porterhouse steak meals for the price of one modern choko. 13 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted February 10 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 10 Goodnight all. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hroth Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 1 hour ago, monkeysarefun said: Watch the whole lot! The first 10 seconds of that was enough too! 5 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hroth Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 32 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said: And with their backs to each other But the tune was ok, despite being the renaissance equivalent of Pachelbels Canon... 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coombe Barton Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 1 minute ago, Hroth said: But the tune was ok, despite being the renaissance equivalent of Pachelbels Canon... The serpent right hand grip looked uncomfortable 6 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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